COACH Shawn Dennis says individual players in his squad are on notice to find some defensive improvement or they'll be spending extended time next to him on the bench.

While declining to name them publicly, Dennis said in-house he had made it clear that there will be consequences if some players don't pick up their game.

The Crocs have shipped 390 points in their last four matches, the worst in the league in that time with the league leading Perth Wildcats (379 in four games) surprisingly the next behind.

Cairns have been the most miserly defensively, conceding 310 points in a 2-2 run, while the three most successful teams over the period Adelaide (331 against), Melbourne (317) and Wollongong (331), who all have gone 3-1 in their past four, are also among the lowest.

Offence is not the problem, with the Crocs having scored the third most points in their past four games (350) and trailing only high flyers Perth (386) and Adelaide (369) for the best scoring output in recent games.

The Crocs have been particularly stung by efficient three-point shooting in recent weeks, with Perth and Melbourne making a combined 48 of 76 attempts against Townsville (63 per cent) in the last three games.

The Crocs coach said a lot of the time the defensive lapse was made two or three passages of play before a player sunk a three-point shot and said if his players couldn't keep their man in front of them more often than not, he wouldn't play them to try and stop the haemmorage of points.

Dennis said defence was an individual responsibility and if players weren't willing to do it there was a place for them on the sidelines.

"There's definitely players under the pump to do a better job defensively," he said.

"We've given up in our last four games nearly 400 points, that's ridiculous in anyone's language.

"If individuals don't want to play defence and take a bit more personal pride in their defence they're going to have sit next to me on the bench."

The coach said that if it means not going so deep into his 10 player rotation, then so be it.

"We need people who want to play the game and you would have seen in the second half (against Perth on Sunday) the other night people got opportunities in the second half and if they didn't do it they didn't get another chance.

"We saw a far better defensive effort and they're the people we want in our group.

"People who are willing to take personal pride in stopping their man and we've got to do that."

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